Statesboro, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men’s Soccer Team lost a tough match 2-1 to Furman in the second overtime period Tuesday afternoon at Eagle Field.

The Eagles fall to 2-6-0 overall and 0-2-0 in conference play after the loss. The Paladins improve to 7-4-1 in the regular season and 2-0-0 overall.

Georgia Southern played one of their best first halves of the season and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“I applaud our effort. We had a tremendous first half, but we were unfortunate not to be up 2-0 after getting the penalty kick,” said Head Coach Kevin Kennedy.

The Eagles scored on an indirect penalty kick play in the 18^th minute of play. Senior Jon Kinsler (Ormond Beach, Fla.) tapped the ball to Danny Hall (Conyers, Ga.) who set it up for Senior BJ Reine (Baton Rouge, La.) who drilled it passed Furman’s goalkeeper Alec Kann for the score.

Georgia Southern missed a golden opportunity to go up 2-0 in the 33^rd minute. Fredrik Langseth (Lorenskog, Norway) took a penalty kick shot to the left side of the net, but it deflected off the glove of the goalkeeper and bounced away from the net.

Kinsler made a number of early defensive plays to stop Furman’s advances. He finished the day with a shot on goal and an assist.

Warren Creavalle had a one-on-one opportunity in the 19^th minute but Stephen George (Lawrenceville, Ga.) won the battle for position and knocked the pass away preventing a scoring opportunity.

The Paladins came out of the locker room and controlled most of the second half.

In the 57^th minute Austin Steele (Kennesaw, Ga.) stopped three different attempts by Furman to advance the ball into Georgia Southern’s box.

Steele made another great defensive play in the 73^rd minute by using his head to knock away a free kick pass out of box.

“I think Austin played well,” said Coach Kennedy. “I think we defended very well today and worked together.”

The Paladins were finally successful in the 79^th minute when Caleb Suri kicked a corner kick that Patrick White headed into the net to tie the match at 1-1.

“We gave away several free kicks in the second half, and they punished us finally on a corner,” said Coach Kennedy.

The match went to overtime and remained 1-1 after the first period. In the second overtime period, Patrick Murray scored the game-winning goal off of Eric Cobleigh’s inbound pass.

“In overtime it comes down to a chance here, a chance there, and we came up on the losing end,” said Coach Kennedy.

The Eagles return to action Saturday at 1 pm in Boone, N.C. against Appalachian State.

Category: Men's Soccer

Published on Tuesday, 07 October 2008 00:24